Across the river from Irvington is Piermont, and 2 M. to the southwest of Piermont is the village of Tappan, where Maj. André was executed Oct. 2, 1780. Lyndehurst, with its lofty tower, the home of Helen Gould Sheppard, the philanthropist, a daughter of Jay Gould, is passed on the right just before reaching Tarrytown.
24½ M. TARRYTOWN, Pop. 5,807.
(Train 51 passes 9:08; No. 3, 9:27; No. 41, 1:41; No. 25, 3:23; No. 19, 6:13. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 8:40; No. 26, 9:00; No. 16, 3:18; No. 22, 4:43.)
Situated on a sloping hill that rises to a considerable height above the Tappan Zee, historic Tarrytown stands on the site of an Indian village, Alipoonk (place of elms), burned by the Dutch in 1644. Irving explains that the housewives of the countryside gave the town its name because their husbands were inclined to linger at the village tavern, but literal minded historians think it was more likely that the name came from Tarwen dorp or Tarwetown, "wheat town." There were perhaps a dozen Dutch families here in 1680 when Frederick Philipse acquired title to Philipse Manor, several thousand acres, in what is now Westchester county. Just above Tarrytown is the valley of the Pocantico creek, the mouth of which is marked by the projection of Kingsland Point.
This is the "Sleepy Hollow" of Irving's legend, where Ichabod Crane, the long, thin school-master, whose conspicuous bones clattered at any mention of ghosts, encountered the Headless Horseman pounding by night through the little Dutch village. It was after a quilting bee at Farmer Van Tassel's, where his daughter Katrina and what would come with her in the shape of fat farm-lands and well-stocked barns, aroused Ichabod's affections to the boiling point. He had a rival, however, "Brom Bones," a young black-headed sprig, who watched Ichabod's advances uneasily. After the party Ichabod mounted his old horse, Gunpowder, as bony as he, but no sooner was he well under way than he heard hoof beats on the road behind him and saw, glimmering in the dark, a white headless figure on horseback, carrying in its arms a round object like a head.... Never before or since was there such a chase in Sleepy Hollow. Perhaps the hapless school-teacher might have escaped, had not the Huntsman, just as they reached the Sleepy Hollow bridge, hurled his head square at his victim. The next morning no Ichabod, only a pumpkin lying on the road by the bridge, where the hoofmarks ceased. He had completely disappeared. Some weeks later Brom Bones led Katrina to the altar.
Washington Irving
Washington Irving (1783-1859) was intended for a legal profession, but although called to the bar preferred to amuse himself with literary ventures. The first of these, with the exception of the satirical miscellany, "Salmagundi," was the delightful "Knickerbocker History of New York," wherein the pedantry of local antiquaries is laughed at, and the solid Dutch burgher established as a definite comedy type. When the commercial house established by his father and run by his brother began to go under in 1815, Irving went to England to look into the affairs of the Liverpool house, and as it was soon necessary to declare bankruptcy, his misfortune forced him to write for his living. Returning to America in 1832 after 17 years' absence, he found his name a household word. The only interruption to his literary career was the four years (1842-1846) he spent as ambassador to Spain. For the rest, he passed some little time travelling, but in the main kept retreat at "Sunnyside," where he died, Nov. 28, 1859.
Through this valley, we get a glimpse of the site where Philipse erected, partly of brick brought from Holland, a manor house,* a mill,* and a church,* all of which are still standing.
